Sunday December 9, 12:22 a.m.
Japan has undergone a few trials and tribulations this past week, and none of them have had anything to do with the upcoming election. There was the tragedy of some concrete roof panels in a tunnel in Yamanashi Prefecture collapsing on top of some cars, killing nine. Then, there was the sudden passing of kabuki master Kanzaburo Nakamura XVIII, and finally that Shindo 5(M 7.3) tremor which kicked the country in the shins on Friday. I took a look at the quake map....almost the whole of Honshu was slathered in Shindo 4s and 5s with the epicentre in the same area where the March 11 quake struck. Can only imagine the terror that the people felt there.
My brother came by and blithely remarked that a Shindo 5 couldn't have been that strong. He must've been joking. I know what a 5+ is like....it was the same strength that hit me in the Shinjuku Starbucks when Tokyo felt the 3/11 quake. It ain't no massage, believe me. Skyscrapers were swaying like palm trees, and I ended up doing a major odyssey getting back to my apartment in Ichikawa that night.
Been a pretty quiet day. Still looks very gloomy out there....nothing Christmas-like at all in the weather department, although CTV says that snow may be on the way later today. Meteorlogically speaking, I care about the last week before Xmas. Do we get a White Christmas or not? Nowadays, it seems like a coin toss. I got another translation done in the preliminary stages yesterday. All I need to do is give it that once-over before handing it into the boss before tomorrow. And I taught Mr. Moriya tonight over Skype....seemed pretty drowsy but then again, he had just come back from a busy business trip in Fukuoka the night before.
